Accessory attachment to a hard hat



Sept. 20, 1966 J. R. ANDREWS m ACCESSORY ATTACHMENT TO A HARD HAT Filed D60. 18, 1964 INVENTOR.

JOHN R. ANDREWSIII We: Mu

ATTORNEYS.

FIG?

United States Patent ice 3,273,163 ACCESSORY ATTACHMENT TO A HARD HAT John R. Andrews III, North Uxbridgc, Mass., assignor to Welsh Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Rhode Island Filed Dec. 18, 1964, Ser. No. 419,498 1 Claim. (Cl. 23)

This invention relates to a hard hat and more particularly to a means for attaching an accessory to the hard hat, such as a chin strap, goggles, face shield, welding shield, hearing protector or the like.

Hard hats have usually had some sort of a rivet or an opening through the wall thereof, or if there was a hole provided, then there would be an impairment of the electrical insulating qualities of the wall where this hole occurred.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an attachment which does not pierce any of the electrical insulating walls of the hard hat to impair its electrical insulating qualifies.

Another object of this invention is to provide a part of an attachment molded into the hat or with the hat at the time that it is molded, thus minimizing additional operations for providing the attachment of a part to the hat for the purposes above indicated.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction as will he more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a hat equipped with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a section on line 22 of FIG. 1 with the separable unit of the attachment omitted;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the separable unit of the attachment;

1 FIG. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of FIG. 1 with the separable unit of the attachment in position;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a modified form of separable unit; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 5 with the unit of FIG. 6 in position.

In proceeding with this invention, I have molded into the lower thickened marginal portion of a hard hat, a socket or slot and have formed a separable member which may fit into this slot and provide a means outside of the hat wall for attaching any one of a various number of accessories. The separable member is locked into the socket or slot by means of a spring tongue which engages the sides of the slot and provides abutments to engage the marginal edge of the slot and prevent it from moving lengthwise of the slot in one direction.

With reference to the drawings, 10 designates generally a hard hat with a thickened marginal portion 9 at its lower edge, and a wall 11 extending upwardly from this thickened portion and provided with ribs 12 for stiffening the same. A slot or pocket 15 (FIG. 2) is formed in the thickened lower edge 9, while along the lower edge 9 the hat extends outwardly providing a flaring lip 16. This pocket 15 by being molded into this thickened rib 9 leaves intact an inner wall 17 in an imperforate condition,

while the outer wall 18 may also be imperforate or perforate or variously formed or shaped as occasion may require.

3,273,163 Patented Sept. 20, 1966 The member for attaching accessories is designated generally 20 and comprises in one form a U shape separately molded part having legs 21 and 22. Leg 21 is provided with an opening 23 for attachment of various accessories which may be utilized with the hard hat.

The leg 22 is provided with some sort of means for interlocking with the pocket or slot 15 so as to hold it firmly therein, and I have illustrated one means of such interlock by means of a tongue 25 having arms 26 at either side thereof with outturned lugs 27 at their ends. These arms are so spaced from the body of the tongue that when compressed sufiiciently the tongue may be inserted through the pocket 15, whereupon they will spring outwardly against the walls of the slot into the position shown in FIG. 4 and lock beneath the lower edges 28 adjacent the pocket or slot so as to prevent the member 20 from inadvertently being withdrawn from the slot. Additionally, openings 29 and 30 may be located in the tongue 25 and arms 26 for attachment of a chin strap in which case the shoulders 31 engage the upper edge of the slot 15 to prevent downward passage of the separable member through the slot.

The separable unit in some cases may take the form. shown at 35 (FIG. 6) which is flat with the same tongue and arms 25, 26 and with an upstanding portion 36 with an attaching opening 37 therein. In this case I provided the chin strap opening 38 in the tongue 25 shown as three in number. Shoulders 31 will engage the upper marginal edge of the slot.

From the above it will be apparent that it is unnecessary that the wall 18 of the pocket or slot be closed as it might be open under some circumstances. Likewise, it will be apparent that the shape of the pocket or slot is unimportant so long as it provides for a holding of some member to which the attachment for the hard hat may be secured. Thus, the invention is satisfied by some part which is molded into the hard hat as it is formed, permitting the maintenance of an insulating wall such as 17 against the passage of any electric current.

I claim:

In combination with a hard hat, a member for attaching accessories thereto, means for detachably securing said member to said hat comprising two cooperating parts, one part on said hat and the other part on said member, said part on the hat being a socket having a through opening with outwardly extending abutments formed at its lower edges, and the part on said member being a tongue with resilient arms at either side having lugs extending outwardly a distance to engage the abut ments of said socket and prevent withdrawal of said tongue, said arms and tongue being relatively spaced sufliciently to permit movement of the arms toward each other and toward said tongue to free said lugs from said abutments for withdrawal of the tongue from said socket.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,904,790 9/ 1959 Ruggiero 28 3,041,622 7/ 1962 Gurtowski 28 3,047,876 8/ 1962 Malcom 29 3,104,644 9/1963 Burton 268 X 3,156,923 11/1964 Timrn 2-3 3,192,536 7/1965 Benner 23 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

I. R. BOLER, Assistant Examiner. 

